Hall of Famer Bob Pettit, the NBA’s first MVP winner, has died at the age of 93.
Louisiana State Universityannounced his passing Sept. 24, saying Pettit died on Sept 23.
Pettit was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Dec. 12, 1932. He went on to become an All-American at LSU.
Setting the standard for the power forward position, Pettit led the St. Louis Hawks to an NBA championship in 1958. The Hawks defeated the Boston Celtics in the finals, 4-2.
The Celtics proceeded to win a historic eight consecutive NBA championships after that, defeating the Hawks twice in the 1960 and 1961 finals. The Hawks pushed them to seven games before falling in 1960.
Boston won its first NBA title in 1957, beating St. Louis in the finals, 4-3. The Celtics would've won 10
straight NBA championships had Pettit and the Hawks not defeated them in the 1958 finals.
The second overall pick in the 1954 NBA Draft, Pettit was an All-Star in each of his 11 NBA seasons and won the league’s MVP award twice in 1956 and 1959.
He averaged 26.4 points and 16.2 rebounds in 792 career regular-season games.
Scoring a total of 20,888 points, Pettit is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 1971. He was a two-time NBA scoring champion, a 10-time All-NBA first team selection and named All-Star Game MVP four times.
When Pettit retired in 1965, he was the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and second all-time in rebounds at 12,849.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bob Pettit, who paused Celtics' title streak, dies at 93
